How long before the UK/French/Arab-style riots come to the US?

I have recently come across many commentators who opine that it is only a matter of time before the political and social unrest Americans are witnessing in various parts of the world turn into widespread unrest and riots in the United States.

Even economists see the signs of the tension reaching a breaking point, as Nouriel Roubini (who predicted the housing bust, bailouts and the financial crisis) points out in an economic analysis of growing frustration of growing inequality and lost opportunity:

Recent popular demonstrations, from the Middle East to Israel to the UK, and rising popular anger in China – and soon enough in other advanced economies and emerging markets – are all driven by the same issues and tensions: growing inequality, poverty, unemployment, and hopelessness. Even the world’s middle classes are feeling the squeeze of falling incomes and opportunities.

Is Capitalism Doomed?

Famed sociologist Walter Russell Mead devotes his most recent blog (citing numerous other various authorities and observers) to a detailed analysis of the disparate interests of Whites, Blacks, Hispanics and government, and the likelihood of a bleed-over of the frustrations we have recently seen into full-blown unrest:

Gradually, the press is taking more notice; unlike the French riots of 2005, the UK riots of 2011 are a wake up call to the United States. Britain Today, America Tomorrow? asks Raymond Bonner at The Atlantic. The old liberal position — that it was racist to raise this possibility — seems to be morphing into a new conventional wisdom that the existence of this possibility shows how racist America really is. The conceptual leap that turned the unspeakable into the inevitable appears to be the connection of violence with austerity: once responsibility for any inner city riots can be laid at the Tea Party’s door, the subject can safely be discussed. Indeed, it must be discussed.

In any case, the subject of contagion is in the air. Former State Department head of policy planning Anne-Marie Slaughter links to a blog citing an academic paper arguing that fiscal austerity promotes riots. ABC News also expresses worry that the US is on Britain’s path. On the New York Times website, bloggers Matthew Yglesias and Reihan Salam debated that possibility. At TPMCafé Thomas Lane posits trouble when austerity begins to bite — perhaps around 2014.

Urban Warming and Racial Climate Change

Aren't we already seeing the symptoms; what with "flash mobs," hacker protests and disruptions, and race-driven attacks in various American cities?

Think of D.C.:Cops Get Ready to Take on Flash Mobs

and Philadelphia:Philadelphia Institutes Curfew

and Wisconsin:Wisconsin State Fair Mob Attack

and Los Angeles:Flash Mob Ends in Venice Beach Shooting

or San Francisco (where the government cut-off cells "for safety"):San Francisco Subway Closed?

There've been many others outlined elsewhere.
Some people say the Tea Party, or disillusioned Leftists will trigger it.

I see trouble coming over the horizon.

jw




» In Los Angeles, a man was shot when hundreds of gang members gathered at Venice Beach after some of them posted on Twitter.



Read more at the Washington Examiner: washingtonexaminer.com...

It won't happen.

They have all contracted Bieber Fever.

reply to post by XplanetX


Bieber is Canadian. They won't protest anything; he'll just go home and ride it out.

All joking aside, I just don't see riots happening in the us.. People are too scared to lose what they percieve as theirs.

How would their POA react? Where could they park the Suburban without fear of it being vandalized?

A vast majority don't even know the European riots happened. 24 million unemployed might not even have internet access.

The message just isn't getting through.

We could go the old fashioned "word of mouth" way, but would likely get slapped with inciting riotous behavior.

It would be nice if people just did something, It would be great if it were nonviolent, It would be godlike if it accomplished anything.

We are screwed if we riot, and we are screwed if we do nothing... Either way, you get the idea.

reply to post by jdub297


waddya mean we wont protest anthing! we had the g20 no?

Originally posted by jdub297
reply to post by XplanetX

 

Bieber is Canadian. They won't protest anything; he'll just go home and ride it out.

Precisely, there is nothing of value left inside the USA so they have to latch onto the nearest thing.

I have heard that the fever can create a zombie like trance in people and they believe everything that the MSM spoon feeds them concerning politics and the state of the economy.

We have a gun, that's all I'll say. I really don't feel like blowing the crazies heads off. This is unrealistic, who knows ? Doesn't anybody on this God-forsaken site want peace ?

Anyone old enough to remember the LA/everywhere else riots in 1994 after that Rodney King deal? I'm only 24 so I don't but I imagine ATS would have imploded with "Here's the beginning of the end!!!" threads

Originally posted by Hawking
Anyone old enough to remember the LA/everywhere else riots in 1994 after that Rodney King deal? I'm only 24 so I don't but I imagine ATS would have imploded with "Here's the beginning of the end!!!" threads

Imagine if these sites had been around when Jesus was born, that would've been funny. If we're riot we're screwed, damned if we do and damned if we don't

Originally posted by Bobaganoosh
A vast majority don't even know the European riots happened. 24 million unemployed might not even have internet access.
The message just isn't getting through.

I know lots of people who do not work, but have access to cable, internet and smartphones.

ALL of the cited US flash mobs were incited with social media and phones.

You don't have to know about what's going on elsewhere to understand you are being treated poorly.

In some states, welfare benefits include cell phones and 250 minutes/month.

It is already here on a limited scattered basis.

Originally posted by Hawking
Anyone old enough to remember the LA/everywhere else riots in 1994 after that Rodney King deal? I'm only 24 so I don't but I imagine ATS would have imploded with "Here's the beginning of the end!!!" threads

I was in school during the '64 to '68 riots. People died, stores burned, bombs exploded.

jw

Arab-style "riots" will not come to the US, they know how to overthrown a system, if they won't get shot or bombed. (respect for Egyptians, interesting elections.)

UK/France riots are lame, they have nothing to do with overthrowing a system or they do not understand how to overthrown their system because although they are at the bottom of the pyramidescheme they did not mess with the foundations. That could come to the US

An Egyptian made it clear in one sentence when we talked about it. "we had nothing to lose, you have everything to lose, although you are at the bottom, you got water, electricity, communications etc, we had that sometimes but we couldn't count on it."

Originally posted by jdub297

Originally posted by Hawking
Anyone old enough to remember the LA/everywhere else riots in 1994 after that Rodney King deal? I'm only 24 so I don't but I imagine ATS would have imploded with "Here's the beginning of the end!!!" threads

I was in school during the '64 to '68 riots. People died, stores burned, bombs exploded.

jw

Well now you've just got me thinking of ATS in the 1960's...I remember seeing the 1970 documentary "Woodstock" in which a bunch of the hippies at the festival talk about the rain and how "The government's seeding the clouds man! They want this to happen!"

They might be the first chemtrailers...

as soon as there is a shortage of fastfood probably, mcdonalds isnt open for a day and they will burn that mfcker down!!! lol,
its funny coz its the truth 'we are raising taxes to 90% for everyone except the super rich' 'awww ok' 'and tomorrow mtv will be offline and all mcdonalds are gonna be closed' 'OMG TIME TO RIOTTT!!!!' its the truth lmao its sad

The OP's first mistake was to mention Arab and UK in the same breath. Please don't flatter our UK problems by comparing them to an Arab spring. Much of it was plain yobbery by young teens - in fact the youngest kid was 7!
The UK unrest was not a political comment or a protest against cuts. Nor was it about services/opportunities for young people. Even in today's financial climate, compared to what we had in the 50s, they have never had it so good. This spoilt spoon fed generation wouldn't know real hardship if it bit them on the nose. It has been brewing for years through successive governments. It is about a breakdown in society and the family.
It will take years to fix and it may already be too late. Far from being glorious revolutionaries, our little UK mobsters are the kind who will come for you and I if the world goes belly up.

I wouldn't call flash mobs of our poorly educated and dillusional minority youth the begining of the end of ... anything..

I believe they probably need to be taught a harsh lesson (as I am sure the rioters in the UK are now feeling) and all will settle down. But at the momment they saw the fun in London and might try and trigger something here just for the laughs but ultimately ..... there is no "cause". Just poor and ignorant people wanting to cause problems.. the idiots in America are so stupid they forgot the point was to steal stuff, not just beat whities head in and run away.

Originally posted by Diyainoue
Arab-style "riots" will not come to the US, they know how to overthrown a system, if they won't get shot or bombed. (respect for Egyptians, interesting elections.)

The civil rights riots of the '60s were to bring down a system that neglected the poor and minorities. They evolved into disgust over an unjust war. Both lines succeeded in getting what they wanted.

UK/France riots are lame, they have nothing to do with overthrowing a system or they do not understand how to overthrown their system because although they are at the bottom of the pyramidescheme they did not mess with the foundations. That could come to the US

The socialist democracies are seeing riots as a result of reductions of benefits to a dependent class brought up in a nanny state. The US is going to be forced to adopt new policies with lower benefits for those raised to be dependent upon gov't services.

An Egyptian made it clear in one sentence when we talked about it. "we had nothing to lose, you have everything to lose, although you are at the bottom, you got water, electricity, communications etc, we had that sometimes but we couldn't count on it."

Americans are not satisfied with the basics, they want gov't-paid food, medicine, housing and education. When those are threatened, people will react.

I see all three of the "motivators" of foreign unrest present here today.
i can also see a "copy-cat" mentality gripping groups who see others being disruptive for their own, disparate, needs.

reply to post by starchild10


I see all of the problems motivating unrest elsewhere growing here.

Did yoiu read any of the links?

Originally posted by Rockpuck
I wouldn't call flash mobs of our poorly educated and dillusional minority youth the begining of the end of ... anything..

I believe they probably need to be taught a harsh lesson (as I am sure the rioters in the UK are now feeling) and all will settle down. But at the momment they saw the fun in London and might try and trigger something here just for the laughs but ultimately ..... there is no "cause". Just poor and ignorant people wanting to cause problems.. the idiots in America are so stupid they forgot the point was to steal stuff, not just beat whities head in and run away.

You apparently also chose not to read the links to Roubini and Mead. This is not about "acting out."
What if Obama loses? What if he's disparaged in debates? What if he wins? What if social benefits are reduced or eliminated? Or you are "mandated" to participate in gov't programs you do not believe in?

There is growing unrest that I lived through before, and that turned into mob violence and destruction and overreaction by the gov't. Did you ever hear of "Kent State?" That was a "harsh lesson." So was Chicago in '68. You don't remember that either, do you?

18 months ago I started drawing parallels in the UK with the riots of the 1830s and the turmoil of that age (some 350 riots in southern England in the space of a few months).

The Swing riots of the 1830s where born out of the pauperisation of the lower classes in an ever increasingly corrupt system. So looking at the situation then and reflecting on the here and now it was an easy thing to predict (I started a thread and stated this 18 months ago)

But it was harder to predict if it would start in the poor rural communities, poor industrial communities or the poor inner city communities.. all are equally susceptible to the same forces.

From what I have read the same level of shock hit society in 1800s, and the riots gained the same terrified knee jerk response from the Government of the day, but only with time on our side can we see that the pent up rage was bound to explode then as it did now.

So my question would be, does America/Americans face the same kind of challenge?

Do you suffer from the same kind of pauperisation within an increasingly corrupt system? are you suffering from high levels of underemployment that mean no matter how hard you work/could work it is not enough to prevent you drowning in debt?

If you answered yes then I suspect you might be facing a similar out pouring of rage..

My hope is that the rage prevalent in our society can evolve into a more peaceful vehicle that brings real change and real reform.

I can only hope.